A bit soon for him??
Ahh lads
AC
Your views on bringing lads straight from minor in to senior panels ?
Listen it should always be open enough imo. There is no rule. A lot depends on a young lads head tbh. It could greatly benefit ryan to get some exposure and get to kiely and Kinnerks way of working.
Ye fuck up the young lads
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I think there should be a gap year . The risk of burnout worries me .
Great post.
I want to offer counters to two points that not just you made, but seems to be generally accepted on this thread. You say that “Mike Casey had a good league”. I don’t know if i can agree with that. For one he started in the league defeats to both Wexford and Galway, so played a part on the losing end of the two main matches we wanted to win in the league, but didn’t. I don’t count the contributions he may have made against Kerry and Laois etc. as they are meaningless. Against Cork the day we won he was utterly roasted against Cadogan and was subbed. His starting place should have been up for debate after that but OK he got benefit of doubt to start against Clare. But another very bad day at the office and while he is a young man it is not of the required standard for this present moment. Someone else will have to be looked at for the next day for no. 4, whether it be Condon, Cahill or someone else. A message needs to be sent out to underperformers, whoever you may be.
The other point is you say you are a big fan of Pat Ryan. OK we need to look at someone else in place of Jim Bob. I would have O’Donovan, Lynch if they wanted to move him back there, or even Will O’Donoghue ahead of Pat Ryan in the pecking order. I think he is very small and not too strong. I was not impressed by his cameo against Clare. OK he got a point but the game was over at that point and he was found in acres of space in the middle of the field for an uncontested shot. He was generally busy and tried to find space but there was one incident where he was required to enter a bit of a 50/50 or ruck type situation and was shall we say less than robust in his efforts to go in for the ball. We don’t want half a team of Mike Galligans out there. I also saw him absolutely sucking for air at one stage and unable to chase back so would question his conditioning given he was only given a 10-15min or so cameo role with the game almost beyond salvaging. OK he was making a championship debut so the intensity is new but then so was Finn and Hayes and those boys started and played 70mins and they weren’t gassed after 10-15mins of effort. I might be too harsh given he did buzz about and there might be a good reason for it but was concerned by how he would get blown up so quickly.
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Watching the highlights there again, Kyle Hayes was fouled before handpassing the ball in the lead up to the first Clare goal.
Yes : there was a tug of the shirt but TBH we can’t complain about the ref on Sunday .
Clare know how to foul. They are wonderful at it. Really sly and streetwise, which is to be admired. When it doesn’t come off as it should it looks obvious and forced and they collect yellows as a result.
They also know how to win frees. Again, to be admired. In essence, they are playing the referee as well as the opposition. It’s part of the game these days and it would appear it is something they really focused on and improved under Davy and Paul Kinnerk.
Any inter county hurler should know how to foul without being caught . Little tugs most often go unpunished at IC level . The ref in my opinion was good to Limerick .
Lk problems are bigger than an odd jersey tug by our opponents .
I don’t disagree, but I do wish Limerick were more like Clare in the structured approach they take to discipline, or lack of it.
We are too naive. We don’t do the basics well enough. We revert to type under pressure and invariably make poor decisions.
Referees have nothing to do with any of that.
Ye fouled all day
Stop Joe, its obvious what went wrong, Limerick aren’t dirty enough. Well they are, just not clean dirty enough. If they get cleaner at being dirtier they’ll be sorted.
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We did Joe.
We’re just not cute enough in how we do it though. Blatant, obvious, last ditch, over the top stuff.
Will ye beat the Déise, Joe?
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For the past couple of years in the Championship, that wasn’t true at all. Clare were extremely indiscipline, giving away stupid frees and doing all that kind of stuff really obviously, so that no referee could help but see it. Which then caused Davy to rant against the ref after every single match.
They were trying to do what Kilkenny have always done, they were just particularly shit at it. Shane O’Donnell is a good man to buy a free. Falls into the defender, links his arm around the opposition player’s hurley and the ref falls for it every time.
Yes under the last year or two of Davy they went a bit ape… Jack browne and bugler good examples. The lunatic act on the sideline was an attempt to pressure the referee into not blowing. But there’s no doubt in my mind they worked on it, to great effect, as should be the case.
Cummins called odonnell on his antics on the Sunday game very well.
On Casey - I was out of the country until the Laois game, so was dependent on reports from others - a common theme seemed to be that Casey was going well. He struggled on Cadogan against Cork, but was cynical enough then to haul him down a couple of times - I actually thought he might walk at one stage, as I thought he was on a card already and the ref was reaching into his pocket, but only a yellow was produced. He was one of the better performers against Galway though. As I said, Condon and Cahill (who tbh I haven’t seen play) will be snapping at his heels, but I would hope being dropped would be based on more than just one bad game. English was beaten up a stick against Galway and Finn was brutal when he came on.
Ryan vs O’Donovan is an interesting one because everyone seems to have a side on which is the better option. Personally I think DOD would be slower and lighter than Ryan, but he hasn’t gotten much of a look in yet this year so I have no idea what form he is in at the moment. I thought WOD was pretty poor against Galway the first day and against Cork, but improved in the semi-final. I’d have my doubts about his desire to cover ground, but he does bring size for sure, and he does have a instinct to take players on.
Clare were extremely practiced on the spare arm tackle in 13, refs copped on and started calling it and their free count went through the roof. I’m surprised refs haven’t copped onto O’Donnell grabbing players and going down at this stage, Cadogan too is another one that constantly does it and refs fall for it.
As whether we are practiced enough at fouling, I think the issue is at the moment we are a very light team. We are going to struggle physically for another year until lads fill out a bit. Even our most physical lines at half forward and half back will barely hold their own physically against Galway or Tipp, if even. We could do with a bigger midfield partner for Browne but the most likely options are lightweights. WOD could come in maybe, not a powerhouse either. FF line of Mulcahy Hayes and Casey was always going to be blown out of it and find it hard to hold up the ball, that can be sorted if Dowling and Nash are moved in.
Personally, I was shocked that English was dropped before Casey. I thought they both did okay during the league but always felt that English was that bit ahead.
As for the Doon boys, I like both of them but have always been a particularly big fan of O’Donovan. I thought Ryan did fine when he came on the other day, and would prefer both to WOD currently, he’s got the physique but I feel his hurling is raw enough atm.